My Master Is...

"We would say in the terms of Romans 6, "Serve the right master.  Link up with Righteousness."  You see, before the Savior was present in our lives, we had no choice.  We were all trapped under the ice.  Breathing free wasn't an option.  There was no way we could find freedom, no way to enjoy the ocean depth of righteousness.  We were enslaved to wrong, lawlessness, selfishness, wicked choices, and impure motives.  When Christ came, He freed us, leaving us with a choice.  We can choose Him to be our Master, or we can go back and choose sin to master us."- Charles Swindoll, The Grace Awakening

     Romans 6 has been a hard chapter for me to swallow.  You see, in my journey to release control, God has shown me that I am a chronic worrier.  I've tried for years to not be a worrier.  In high school, I shared my concern with my youth group, and one of my sweet friends shared with me Philippians 4:6-7.  In college, the worry became such a problem, I read through a devotional called From Worry to Worship.  In both cases, it seems that the worry would die down and be replaced by God's peace about things.  However, in the past few years, instead of trying to approach my worry from a Godly perspective, I've tried to control things over and over again.  I felt that if I was in control, I wouldn't have a thing to worry about.

     While I was reading The Grace Awakening, Swindoll devotes an entire chapter to deconstructing  Romans 6 for the grace filled believer.  The last two sentences of the quote I shared have hit my heart in many ways.  You see, I have lived my life believing the lie that because I've been a worrier all my life, I will continue to be a worrier all my life.  It is my nature.  But as Swindoll states, I actually have a choice.  Do I choose to let worry, which is a sin, master me?  Or do I choose Christ to be my master?  Right now it it seems impossible that I could be free from the master of worry.  But as I wrote about on Monday, our God is the God of impossibility.  The more I chose to focus on Him and let His power transform me, the more I am freed from my old master.  It won't happen overnight, although I wish it would.  But just like I have learned to have a heart full of eucharisteo, I can have a heart free from worry.  I can have a heart mastered by JESUS!

What I'm Listening To Wednesday

Unlike the majority of America, I don't watch American Idol, so I had no idea who this Phillip Phillips guy was.  In fact, if you would have told me that I would love this song from a guy who was on American Idol, I would have laughed at you.  I heard this song though one night while waiting at a restaurant, and thanks to one of my apps, I found out who it was and I have been listening to it since.  His whole album isn't that bad either.  It has been good driving music and I just love this song so much!  Go Phillip Phillips! (It is amazing what you can be open to once you drop preconceived notions.)

Thank You

Teaching kindergarten is often like herding cats. I never really know what goes into their little sponge minds or what they miss because there was something really really shiny on the floor to look at.

The past three weeks in Bible we have learned about Jesus' life on earth with His teachings and miracles to show He is the Son of God. Last week I introduced the idea of grace to the class, explaining it as the teaching manual did: God's kindness when we deserve punishment. The class seemed to really snatch the idea and run with it. I thought the only reason they did was because we have a little girl with that name in our class.

Fast forward to yesterday. I had three friends that landed on a note home to the parents spot due to their behavior. They had turned their behavior around from earlier in the day, but still couldn't quite get it to move their clip all the way up on the top. I was going to write them a note, when the Holy Spirit prompted me to tell them that I was going to show them grace today. There would be no note home.they were genuinely happy. They said I was being kind even when I didn't need to. Then, without them seeing each other, all three came up individually and thanked me for the grace: "Miss L, thank you so much for the grace today," "Thank you for the grace. I'll try harder tomorrow." "Thanks for the grace."

I'm praying that the lesson of showing them grace is more impactful in shaping their heart for The Lord than any note I could have written yesterday. I pray that their thankfulness lays a foundation for them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

As for me, it impacted me greatly and reminded me that Eucharisteo truly is the gateway to grace and joy. And also to not be so skeptical if their little ears are listening and learning during Bible because apparently they are!

Hope After the Rain

For those of you that were in Oklahoma City this past Saturday, there was a torrential downpour around 2:30 in the afternoon.  I've never seen so much rain pour!  Especially when in the car...it is not my favorite thing to have try to navigate and trust that the road is still there, even when you can't see it.  At the end of the day, God painted a beautiful picture across the sky.  First, the golden sun started to barely break through the grays and the cobalt blues.  My mom called it a "Jesus Returning" sky.  She said she loves it when the sky looks like at any moment He will break through with all His glory.  Then the sky moved from the dusty blues to a brilliant gold color as the sun slowly sank down.  An hour later, this was the scene across this sky.  Isn't this amazing? Name a color in creation, and I'm pretty sure it is in this mind blowing sunset.  This picture doesn't even begin to describe the joy and wonder in my heart as I saw this definite gift from Him to my heart.  Remember my blog last week about masterpieces?  God gave me a wonderful gift after I had a long week of work at both of my jobs and fighting off this yucky virus.  I felt Him telling me, "See, this day started off rainy and cloudy.  You had no idea that I was going to end the day on this note."  God was right.  If you would have asked me at 2:30 if I thought I would see the most brilliant sunset in my life that night, I would have told you that it was impossible.  How could you see such a sunset when it is raining so much you wonder if you would see an ark float by?  But God is the God who makes all things possible!  The sunset was a reminder of His hope after the rains of life.  Even though it may be a downpour in your life right now, He is working to give you hope and a future, more than you can imagine.  Just like I couldn't dream the sunset, we can't dream how things are going to turn out.  We just have to trust and obey His leading.  One day, you will see the sweet and magnificent sunset too.  Just keep believing in the One who will create beautiful things in your life.

Psalm 126

The Message (MSG)

A Pilgrim Song

 It seemed like a dream, too good to be true,

    when God returned Zion’s exiles.

We laughed, we sang,

    we couldn’t believe our good fortune.

We were the talk of the nations—

    “God was wonderful to them!”

God was wonderful to us;

    we are one happy people.

 And now, God, do it again—

    bring rains to our drought-stricken lives

So those who planted their crops in despair

    will shout hurrahs at the harvest,

So those who went off with heavy hearts

    will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.

Soulful Sunday

Thankful for this song describing my life right now. The more I focus on God, all the things that I want to worry about fade away. The power of grace overtakes my sin of worry and I don't have to be a master to it anymore.

Saturday's List

Here are some scriptures God's spoke to me in the past few months.

1. Mark 5:36
2. Isaiah 40
3. Ephesians 2:10
4. Hosea 2
5. Isaiah 43
6. Isaiah 52
7. Romans 9
8. Romans 6
9. Jeremiah 18 & 19
10. Jonah 2
11. Matthew 7
12. 1 John 4

Lots and lots of Isaiah on that list. Any insights? Maybe I'll start a study on Isaiah. Anyone know of some good commentary?

Do You Ever Do This?

As God is continuing to interrupt my need for control, one of the ways He has challenged me recently is to let Him direct my quiet time.  Instead of being tied to a reading plan or a devotional, God has challenged me to pray and either let the Holy Spirit provide me with a reference or guide my hands as I open the Bible.  A few weeks ago while I was surrendering my need for control down, God guided me to Jonah 2, which is when Jonah finally surrenders to God in prayer.  Boom!  Just what I needed to hear and learn from.

Now I have always had some trouble sleeping.  I have always had vivid nightmares that would wake the whole house up as I cried out.  When I was younger they had more to do with intruders or being kidnapped.  One time on a trip with my church group in college, I dreamed that one of my good guy friends stabbed all of us with a knife.  I woke up all my friends in my hotel room as well as my friends on the hallway.  Lately my dreams have been very spiritual warfare driven, where I have to fight the devil off or more recently was suffocating me.  Very vivid nightmares.  It is why I don't do scary movies or anything to do with zombies and the like.  I don't need more things influencing me.  In fact, in order to go to sleep at night, I have to have a nightlight on.  While talking with Miss L about all of it, I realized that I have a deep fear of the darkness of night.

Last week, using the "Holy Spirit Guide Me to the Right Words" method, God guided me back again to Jeremiah 18, reminding me that I am just being molded to His desires right now.  I thought that was a nice reminder.  I looked over at the footnotes, and it cross referenced Isaiah 45:9.  I started reading that verse and then continued reading until I came to this verse: "It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it.  My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts." (Isaiah 45:12).  Wow.  Here God is speaking to the people, reminding them that He created everything.  I felt the Spirit tell me to go back to Genesis 1, where God created light from the darkness and called them day and evening.  As I was reading it, I felt God tell me that He has created everything.  He is in charge of it all.  I don't need to be afraid of his creation, the night.  Then He brought me back to one of my favorite verses, Psalm 91: 5- "You will not fear the terror of the night,"  What started as a quiet time devoted to me continuing to surrender control turned into the Lord speaking to me directly on a deep fear inside my heart.  I prayed and thanked God for His powerful words that reminded me that I do not have to be afraid of His creation, He will watch over and protect me.  That night I turned the nightlight off and lay down to sleep, reminding myself that God is in control, watching over me, protecting me, and that the night is part of His creation.

His Spirit can guide you in so many ways.  If I had been too stuck to my quiet time plan, I would have missed on some serious truth to help me win the battle over my fear.  For His word to be effective, it doesn't have to be long extended passages of scriptures.  Those truths God gave me through His word were no longer than an average series of text messages between myself and friends.  Short as they were, they were more powerful than I could ask or imagine.  So far I have been able to sleep at night uninterrupted and without the nightlight.   I challenge you to try this out at least once this week.  Just get alone with God and His word and let Him guide you to the words He has for you to read.  It is powerful, living, active, and yes, stronger than any sword!